Civil Lines in Allahabad was envisioned as the ‘Bazaar’ and residence for the colonial sahibs, at the very site where eight villages were razed to the ground in the aftermath of the 1857 mutiny. The capital of the North-Western Province had just shifted from Agra to Allahabad. The Central Avenue, then known as Canning Road and now renamed Mahatma Gandhi Marg, was lined with landmark buildings that housed banks, theatres, offices, shops and hotels to cater to the British gentry.
The transition from a local emphasis on life, to a global outlook, is starkly visible in Allahabad. Commercial hubs across India have been witness to this fast-paced onslaught of globalisation and its indirect impact. As Allahabad gallops towards modernity, the old world of the city, once remembered for its intellectual and academic way of life, gets gradually eroded for the sake of a uniform, consumerism-inspired ecosystem.
With the end of the Raj, Civil Lines flourished as a posh market patronised by residents and immigrants whom the British had nurtured. They were primarily barristers at the Allahabad High Court and teachers from the famous University. Literary and cultural activities were the breath of the city. However, for the last 25 years, Civil Lines has been part of a haphazard building boom that threatens to take away its aesthetics and an atmosphere that was calm, leisurely, and inspiring for the people who were regulars here.
Photos by: Sohail Akbar, an associate professor of still photography at AJKMCRC Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi